DON’T get carried away just yet should be the message to Athy supporters this week. They might be one game from a Leinster final but making the next step will be a huge leap for this team.
But that shouldn’t worry the players or the management. Already they’ve achieved far more than could reasonably have been expected of them given this is their first crack at senior club football outside Kildare.
If Alan Hansen was a GAA pundit he’d have dismissed them long before now but these kids don’t know how to lose.
After a nervy display against Edenderry, they were much more settled looking against what was limited opposition. Kevin Feely and Paddy Dunne gave an exhibition in midfield and James Roycroft had the reflexes of a cat to ensure they held the lead at the break. Once they got to half-time relatively unscathed, there was only going to be one winner.
As much as it was testament to their superiority, in terms of football and fitness, the onesided nature of the second half highlighted the paucity of the visiting side. Their attack was unimaginative and clueless. Every time a blue jersey got inside the Athy half, his instinct was to sprint for goal. Only when the inevitable ambush of Athy jerseys forced a rethink, did the Old Leighlin players worry about laying the ball off. Most of the time, it was too late to do anything productive by then.
Athy won the second half 1-8 to 1-0, the goal conceded was a gift, and Old Leighlin had only one wide by my count. You’d have to wonder how serious they were about this competition. Maybe it was just a case of celebrating their own county success not wisely but too well.
Garrycastle in a Leinster semi-final will be a different kettle of fish and if Athy don’t shore up their defence they will be severely tested by Dessie Dolan and co. They will not be able to afford lapses in concentration like the passage of play that led to Old Leighlin’s goal.
Although they were nine points up at that stage and the game was in the bag, it wasn’t the first time they’d been caught napping at the back.
Roycroft saved them more than once when the Old Leighlin forwards were quickest to react in the square. For one of the three points they conceded in the first half, Roycroft had to tip the ball over the bar but he didn’t know much about it and, like the Edenderry game, Athy could have been hit with a sucker punch.
Sometimes it felt like Athy should have been able to halt their opponent’s attacks long before they got inside the 21 but by and large, it was a solid performance. Athy were excellent at funnelling men back and forced a huge amount of turnovers throughout the game, particularly in the halfback line where Eddie Delahunt had a powerful game. Any team would miss a player of Mick Foley’s calibre but so far Delahunt has done well to fill the gap and the defence has only shipped ten scores in two games. That is mean by any standards but all the more impressive for the fact that they’re without an All-Star defender.
What may come back to haunt them is that of those ten scores, two of them were goals. And so far in Leinster, they’ve yet to encounter a top class inter-county forward
No team will live with Athy if their attack fires on all cylinders. Against Edenderry, the midfielders Feely and Dunne pulled them out of a tight spot with important scores after half-time. Last Sunday the half-forward line came to the fore. It’s amazing to think that their two-man inside line has yet to catch fire and they’ve won two games by a combined total of 13 points. Even Cian Reynolds is not at his sharpest in front of goal. You’d have to think that a two-week break until the next game will help them rediscover their scoring touch.
Between them, Liam McGovern, Tony Gibbons and Reynolds contributed seven points, McGovern was the standout performer with three majestic points from play. When it comes to decoding Athy, any opposition is going to have to quell that threat because allied to their aerial ability at midfield and Ken Brophy’s effectiveness dropping out from the full-forward line, it makes it very difficult for a team to stop them creating chances. How often do you see Athy get blocked, run into cul-de-sacs or run out of space? They always have options.
That’s why they can get away with having their wides total reach double figures for the second week running and still win with plenty to spare. In the modern game, defences are packed so tightly that the hardest thing is often just being able to get a shot away. Edenderry mimicked what we’ll call the Donegal style, by flooding men behind their 45 and almost inviting Athy to attack them. The premise of that style of football is that if a team can’t shoot they won’t score. And if they can’t shoot they’ll eventually turn the ball over and be open to a counter-attack, especially as the attacking team have to commit more and more men to an attack that is literally going around in circles trying to carve out an opening.
Winning kickouts and throw-ins has become more important as a result. When the game is restarted, teams tend to take a more traditional formation, which is more likely to yield chances. On Sunday, Athy won both throw-ins and scored from the attacks that resulted. Two points like that in a tight game will be priceless.
They don’t just come about by accident either. It’s obviously something that has been targeted by management. In some ways they have been the unsung heroes of this Athy setup so far. Mark Brophy and his team have their side well organised and clear about how they’re going to play. Their substitutions have been shrewd. Once more Danny O’Keefe came on and made a big impact. Between the two games in Leinster so far, he’s scored 1-1 in just over 30 minutes on the field.
Is it any wonder Athy are one game from a Leinster final when they’ve got subs who can do that?